


Falling Leaves

by Setcheti



Series: Damage Control [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Implied Relationships, Manipulative Nick Fury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-25 07:42:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12526376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Setcheti/pseuds/Setcheti
Summary: Fury realizes he's going to have to do something about Coulson and his team...and there's only one person he can ask to help him.





	Falling Leaves

Ever since the Guardians of the Galaxy had come to Earth to warn them about the approaching threat of Thanos, many people had been very, very busy making preparations for the war that was coming. Some of them in a different direction than others.

The day Nick Fury was forced to admit to himself that Agent Phil Coulson was one of the ‘some’ had been a dark day for him indeed. And the day he’d realized he was going to need help to take the man down…well, that had been much, much worse. He couldn’t ask Stark, because not only had Coulson’s now equally-brainwashed team turned up with tech that could de-power Iron Man, but also because Stark himself was not a soldier, or an assassin, or even a spy. Setting out to kill a man was not something even Fury would ask a civilian to do.

He couldn’t ask Romanov and especially not Barton, for obvious reasons. He couldn’t ask Barnes because he wasn’t really sure what would happen if he did, and he doubted Barnes would talk to him anyway. Banner wasn’t an option, because killing a rat with an RPG would cause more problems than it solved – most of them for Banner, which was a complication they couldn’t afford right now. The Fantastic Four were in the same position as Stark, War Machine was out of the country, Falcon was retired, and Thor…okay, Fury didn’t even want to start that conversation, much less try to finish it.

All of which meant that the person he was going to have to ask for help was Captain Rogers. The man he’d really fucked up with, according to Stark, and who he’d been planning to rob of his alien-gifted ‘little tree friend’ not even a week previous. The man who hadn’t been keeping him in the loop because Fury had assigned Coulson as his team’s liaison and the situation had been getting more and more volatile. The man who had no reason to trust Fury at all.

Fury went to see him at the fire station where he worked, not sneaking except to get himself there without anyone from SHIELD noticing – once inside he just went to the fire chief’s office and asked if he could have a few minutes to speak with Rogers privately about his ‘other’ job. The man’s response had surprised him. He’d looked Fury up and down, then stood up. “I’ll go get him, you can use my office – it’s soundproof as long as you don’t get too loud. But I’m going to tell you the same thing I’ve done my best to get through his thick skull: Just because he’s special doesn’t mean it always has to be him.”

Fury felt inexplicably shamed by that. “He’s the only one I can ask, this time,” he admitted. “I wouldn’t be here if there was anyone else.”

“Fair enough,” the chief agreed. “Stay out from behind my desk, that seat’s a privilege you haven’t earned in this building.”

“Understood.” Fury eyed the chair once the man was out of the room, noticing the duct tape on the arms and the way the apparently worn-out cushion was covered with an also-worn pillow – it might be the seat of power, but it also underscored the fact that the constant underfunding of the city’s public services was taking its toll in a lot of petty little ways. 

Rogers came trotting in a few minutes later, with a look on his face Fury couldn’t exactly interpret, and closed the door behind him. “Director Fury, I’m guessing this is a conversation nobody is supposed to know about?”

“You’d guess right.” Fury had been going over what he needed to say very carefully ever since he’d decided who he needed to ask. “What if I told you I had a small group of rogue agents working for Thanos and they need to be stopped quickly and quietly.”

Rogers sat down on one corner of the desk. “I’d say I’d been wondering when you’d notice. And I’d guess that you can’t exactly go through official channels.” Fury shook his head, and the seemingly younger man sighed. “I was afraid of that. Just how high does the corruption go?”

“As near as I can tell? All the way.”

“Damn. So we need to do it tonight.” Rogers rolled his eyes when Fury looked taken aback by that. “Director Fury, you showed up here at the fire station instead of calling me, you obviously don’t want the others involved. And I agree with you, I especially don’t want Clint and Natasha involved in…this, and on the off chance Agent Coulson knows any of Bucky’s hidden triggers, taking him along could turn this into the world’s biggest disaster. You can’t ask a civilian, Bruce is the opposite of quiet, and Thor’s not here. That leaves me, and since I’m on the second day of a three-day shift me being gone isn’t going to attract any attention. I’m also guessing nobody at SHIELD knows you’re here.”

“No, they don’t,” Fury admitted. He hadn't even considered Rogers' shift schedule, but at least it would work out in his favor. “So you’ll help me?”

“I don’t have a choice, the way I see it.” Rogers stood back up. “What have we got for weapons besides your gun and my shield and my gun?”

That was a surprise. “You have…”

Another eye-roll. “Licensed for concealed carry, even – not like the Army didn’t train me to use one, you know. Give me a few to get my stuff, then we can slip out the back way.”

“Back way?” But the supersoldier was already gone. Fury was still trying to figure out what he’d meant when the chief came back in and sat down, pulling out what looked like the duty roster and checking it over. Fury made a face. “He should be back later tonight…”

The man didn’t even look up. “I already told him not to be – his head’s not going to be in the game, it would be too dangerous. And he’ll need to fill the rest of his team in on what happened.”

That, Fury reflected, was all too true. He put aside the thought that this might be the straw to break the camel’s back where the Avengers’ relationship with SHIELD was concerned. Rogers would understand, he’d explain it to the rest of them. And they all knew that everyone had to work together at this point, anyway.

He did not see the frown the chief aimed at his back as he left the office with Rogers…but he definitely felt it.

 

The ‘back way’ turned out to be a convoluted route that went out a rusty old door, down and then up fire escapes, and finally down some not-quite interior stairs into an alley. At which point Fury took the lead, and the two of them slid down more alleys and across a few rooftops until they could catch a train that would get them close to their target. People on the train glanced at them, then looked away quickly; they looked like bad news, both wearing hoodies to conceal their faces, and Fury thought the other passengers had probably assumed they were drug dealers.

Or killers. He put that thought aside too. This was necessary. If they didn’t do this, hundreds or even thousands of people – possibly some of these same scared people on the train with them – would die.

Coulson and his team were currently using a warehouse near the airport as their base, and he and Rogers had started making their way inside that Fury started to feel unsure about what they were doing, like he was overlooking something important. His intention, of course, had been to just go in and kill them all. He had something for disposing of the bodies, a little piece of alien tech he’d picked up that nobody but nobody knew he had, and he had used it multiple times in the past to erase…evidence. He’d even planned out a cover story for the disappearance of Coulson and his team, deciding to blame their deaths on the coming-but-already-here Thanos problem by saying they’d been working with him on it secretly and one of the alien agents must have found them. He even thought this story was fitting, since Coulson hadn’t had any problem with becoming an inspiring martyr in the past.

What he’d forgotten was that Captain Rogers had managed to break through the brainwashing SHIELD/HYDRA had done to Barnes – almost too late, for him anyway, but he’d done it and the man was at least somewhat back to normal now. And it hadn’t occurred to him that Rogers would want to give a man they’d both respected that same chance.

It had certainly never occurred to Fury to give Coulson that chance. And Rogers must have known that, because when the actual showdown happened it became really obvious really quickly that he'd maneuvered himself into position between Fury and Coulson. Deliberately.

Coulson was more than surprised to see Rogers. “Captain?”

“Agent Coulson.” Rogers didn’t have his gun out , and his shield was down at his side, not up in a defensive position. “We need to talk.”

“Is that Director Fury?”

“You already know it is,” Rogers said. “Coulson, did Fury ever explain to you what happened after the incident on the Helicarrier with Loki?”

Coulson nodded slowly. Fury knew that the rest of the rogue team were probably getting ready to open fire, or throw out some alien tech of their own, from the room behind him. “I died, but they were able to bring me back. Just with…brain damage.” He looked surprised, genuinely surprised, when Rogers shook his head. “No?”

“Oh come on, you know he lies all the time,” Rogers said, and Fury couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes. “That’s only half the story. The other half of the story is…you used to be a different guy, Coulson. A _very_ different guy. The change didn’t happen because you died and were brought back…the change happened because the people who brought you back were working for the same guy we’re all supposed to be fighting.”

Coulson’s eyes widened. “You think they brought me back as a _sleeper agent_? Captain, that’s ridiculous.”

Rogers didn’t budge. “Think about it. You already know HYDRA had infiltrated SHIELD, and they’re still in there. Who better to convert than you? You were the best of the best, Fury’s most trusted agent, and he was desperate to have you back – desperate enough that he ignored the personality shift, rationalized the odd behavior…and played right into their hands by letting you continue to have all the authority and autonomy you’d had before. What have you been working on lately, Coulson, you and your team? Who have you been reporting to? Because you haven’t been giving those reports to him.”

“Of course I have!”

“You haven’t,” Fury said, managing to get out from behind Rogers just enough so he could see his former friend, now just a dangerous stranger wearing that man’s body. “You haven’t been reporting to me, Agent…and I think you know it.”

And the man who had been Phil Coulson chuckled. “Of course I know it,” he admitted. “I’m not stupid. You probably should have briefed Captain Rogers a little more thoroughly, though, because he obviously thinks I was just brainwashed and he’s hoping he can get through to me. He’s a good man, unlike you.” A gun appeared in his hand. “Unfortunately, the good men in a situation like this are usually the first to die.”

The bullet that accompanied this sentiment ricocheted off Rogers’ shield and caught Coulson right between the eyes, and the next three ricochets took out two members of his team; Fury got the other two with his gun and then made tracks for the room they’d all come out of to check for a fail-safe. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rogers kneel beside Coulson's body, making the sign of the cross it looked like, but the other man’s hood was back up and Fury couldn’t see his face.

The back room was full of alien tech, and Rogers guarded the door while Fury quickly examined all of it for things he might want to keep anyone else from seeing and then got busy making the bodies disappear. Once he was done with that he called Hill and gave her the first part of the cover story, intimating that he’d been following a tip and had found the place empty of people but stuffed with alien tech, but when he’d turned around to let Rogers know he should probably make himself scarce and to thank him for his help…the other man was already gone.

The chill that ran up Fury’s spine was yet one more thing he pushed aside in favor of worrying about more immediate considerations.  

 

Steve limped back into the Avengers’ hideout several hours later and made a beeline for the shower, startling Clint, Bucky and Natasha to their feet but refusing to answer questions – or to meet anyone’s eye. If he sat down on the shower floor once the water was going and just cried, clutching Phil Coulson's shield-shaped tie pin in his hand, nobody could hear him.

Well, nobody human. A high-pitched squeaking noise followed by a crash from Steve’s bedroom startled everyone, but not as much as the sight of a very small tree-creature dashing unsteadily out of the room and making a beeline for the bathroom, squeaking its distress at the closed door. Clint traded a look with Bucky, then walked over and pushed the door open just enough for the creature to get in. It ran straight to Steve where he was sitting on the tile and threw its spindly branch-arms as far around him as they would go, squeaking even more. And then…

“ _I am Groot!_ ”

Clint let the door close, quietly. He didn’t have to ask where Steve had been, or what had happened. He knew. “I think…our new liaison with SHIELD is gonna be Fury,” he said. “He can’t trust anyone else to do it, not now. Not after this.”

Natasha had sat down rather heavily on the arm of the couch. “So our suspicions…”

“Confirmed, yeah. He has somethin' clenched in his fist, we both know what that's bound to be.” He shook his head. “We’ll wait, ambush Steve when he comes out. We’ll make sure he understands…that I do.”

Bucky put an arm around him. “That we all do,” he corrected. “Fury?”

Clint shrugged, leaning into the offered comfort. “There wouldn’t have been anyone else he could ask for help with…that, not really. But that don’t mean I’m gonna forgive him for sneakin’ around to ask Steve.”

“I will not either,” Natasha agreed. “Nor would I put it past him to attempt to use Steve's participation in this incident as leverage at a later time.”

Bucky thought of something. “Bruce will be returning soon, how should we share this information with him?”

Clint shuddered. Bruce had control, yes, but in a situation like this? “Very, very carefully.”


End file.
